


Let Me Help You

by askscienceboyfriends



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Bruce being there for Tony, Depression, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Night Terrors, Nightmares, PTSD, Science Boyfriends, Swearing, Tony having a bad time of it all, Tony snapping at Bruce a little bit, dark content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-16
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-09 02:22:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1965333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/askscienceboyfriends/pseuds/askscienceboyfriends
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony has a very graphic nightmare and decides to resort to what's always helped him in the past: alcohol.  But this time, Bruce is there.  And he's willing to help Tony in any way he can.  But it's hard for Tony to lean on someone after so long of doing this on his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let Me Help You

The desert again.  Nothing ever changed about it. The sand stretched endlessly, and the rocks bleached in the sun.  But that was just the view.  It never stayed like that.  Just some nice scenery for a minute and then the bombs would start.  Explosion, fire, louder than life. Then the delirium.  The panic.  Gasping for breath.  And that’s exactly how he would wake up, night after night.  Tangled in sheets, or sometimes on the floor, gasping for breath and sweating as if he were really in the desert.  He blinked repeatedly, wide eyes taking in the bedroom, the dark, the shine of blue bouncing from his chest onto the walls.  Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he pulled the sheet off of himself and stood up, chest still heaving.

"Fuck," he whispered to no one but himself.  "Fuck."

It wouldn’t bother him if it didn’t happen so often.  He was used to functioning on little to no sleep.  But he didn’t like the way it made him feel.  Like he had no control at all.  So he did the one thing that did make him feel in control.  He went to his bar.

He didn’t bother putting on a shirt.  No one was going to be awake at whatever-the-fuck-o-clock it was.  And he was used to walking around the house in boxers anyway.  What he wasn’t used to was Bruce Banner sitting at the bar when he got there.  Drinking a… fuck, is that tea he’s drinking?

"The fuck are you doing here?" Hmm, that sounded a little meaner than he meant it to.  He instantly regretted it when Bruce turned to him with hurt in his eyes.

"I’m sorry, I… I didn’t think anyone would… sorry, I’ll go." Bruce grabbed his tea cup and started to stand.

"No.  No, fuck, I’m sorry.  Stay.”  Tony motioned for Bruce to sit back down, which he did cautiously. Tony walked around to the bar and grabbed a bottle and a glass then sat down next to Bruce.  "I didn’t mean to snap at you."

Bruce took a good look at Tony.  His eyes were red, he was covered in sweat, and he was clearly upset over something.  Not the Tony he was used to.  Tony filled the glass half way and then threw the whole thing back.  He poured another.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing." Tony drank the second glass.  He refilled it.

"Tony…" Bruce reached out and touched Tony’s shoulder.  He paused with the glass almost touching his lips and glanced at the other man. He looked open, ready to listen, there to help.  Couldn’t end well. And he wasn’t about to scare Bruce out of the relationship they’d been building by whining about a nightmare.  He shook his head and downed the drink.  And refilled.

Bruce sighed.  Tony was the most stubborn man he’d ever met, but he was also the most kind, giving, and loving person he’d ever had in his life.  He needed Tony to know that he could be there for him as well.

"Talk to me, Tony, I want to help."  Bruce left his tea and walked behind Tony.  He reached out, wrapped him in his arms, and put his head close to Tony’s ear.  "What is it?"

Tony sat there for several minutes in silence, still holding his whiskey glass.  When he spoke it was barely a whisper.

"Just a nightmare.  You wouldn’t understand.”

"You think… that I wouldn’t understand about nightmares?"  Bruce let go of Tony and turned the bar stool so they were facing each other. Tony looked at him with tears in his eyes.  He looked, not so much sad as disappointed, and a little scared.  Bruce sees these emotions in the mirror regularly, but he’s never seen them on Tony before.  "Jesus, Tony.  Does this happen every night?”

"Not… every night."

"Come on."  Bruce took the glass out of his hand and set it on the bar. Then he pulled Tony out of his stool and took him by the hand.  Tony didn’t protest.  He let Bruce guide him by the hand all the way to Bruce’s bedroom.  Bruce climbed on the bed and dragged Tony down with him.  And then he wrapped his arms around Tony and just held him.  Tony… didn’t even know what to do.  So he hugged back.  Bruce rubbed his back and kissed his cheek, and Tony didn’t think he’d ever felt this safe before.  And for the first time in their relationship, Tony fell asleep in Bruce’s arms, in Bruce’s bed.  But if Bruce had anything to say about it, he’d make damn sure it would happen again, every night he could.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for our blog ask-science-boyfriends.tumblr.com


End file.
